It was a similar situation for Fordingbridge who lost 12-2 to Poole Park A, who incidentally, are the only team to have beaten the Cliff this season.

Mike Bennett, Jim Stainer, Dennis Fletcher and Graham Mould (26-21) shaped the Dolphins’ 88-77 win, while Roy Moretti (19-17) salvaged what could be two vital points for the Turks.

Who falls through the trapdoor could well be decided in next week’s final fixture between Broadstone-Wessex and Wimborne. Alex are the third candidates and they have a tough match lined up at Ringwood.

Section Two champions Bournemouth may have thwarted New Milton’s chance of promotion by defeating them 12-2 on their own patch.

John Barclay, John Cuff, Ian Rawlinson and Chris Dowding (30-16) were the main contributors to the Marauders’ 87-66 triumph.

West Moors took advantage of New Milton’s misfortune and moved into second place by crushing visitors Swanmore 111-54.

The Moors Men won on all four rinks with the best return coming from David Bird, David Sibley, Mike Tappenden and Chas Wake.

Going into the last end at Branksome Park, the hosts held a 73-71 advantage over Braeside. However, Braeside skips Tony Brunt, Neil Rogers, Pat Day and Bob Penn rewrote the script and picked up seven shots between them to give the Carpetbaggers a 10-4 (78-73) victory.

Boscombe Cliff secured their Section Two status after defeating already-relegated Highcliffe 10-4 (78-69). The David Burgess quartet of Bill Ashworth, Peter Maher and Ron Sparks shone brightest for the Cliff.

Who goes down with Highcliffe will not be decided until next week after Southbourne came out on top in their basement battle at Lymington.

With rinks shared, Peter Dockree’s squad of Colin Haynes, Roy Fenton and Scott Biden (24-15) paved the way for the Towermen’s 76-72 win over the Lymos.

It’s a hotbed in the basement also as four clubs are fighting to avoid the drop. Branksome Park fared best by picking up 10 points on the Magic Carpet, which leaves Braeside just ahead of the bottom two, Kings Park and Swanage. Colin Burns, Roger Owen, Graham Cox and Doug Mitchell (25-9) were the Squirrels’ best.

Kings Park shared rinks with visitors Electric, but the Sparkies took the 10 points courtesy of a 23-15 return from John Ellis, Kevin Cornforth, Mike Elkins and Les Rogerson.

Elsewhere, the mid-table tussle at Argyll resulted in an 11-3 (78-65) defeat for Milford-on-Sea. The main input in Argyll’s 78-65 win was supplied by George Murdoch, Peter Fisher, Dave Charles and Dave Cleave (26-9).

The top two in Section Four – Moordown and Richmond Park – both collected 12 points. Moordown cruised to a 102-72 triumph at Redhill Park.

Bob Affleck, Dave Cox, Alan Richardson and John Long had that silver touch as they topped Moordown’s winning rinks.

The stage is set for a final shootout when the frontrunners go head to head at Moordown next week.

Poole Park remained in touch following their 10-4 (84-70) success over visitors Wimborne. The Dolphins were put on the road to victory by Norman Austin, Mick Wallis, Richard Sawyer and Roger Bazeley (29-9).

A chorus of ‘Nice one Cyril’ rang out over Knyveton Gardens as Cyril Archer’s rink recovered from a 19-7 deficit to win 20-19 on the last end to tie up a 14-0 win for the Gardeners over Highcliffe. Knyveton’s three other winning skips were Bob Osler (20-13), Dave Foote (20-13) and Ray Elrick (19-15).

New Milton returned home with just two points from their mid-table skirmish with Broadstone-Wessex. John Hall, Francis Reeves, Mike Sabine and Gordon Tompsett (23-12) starred for the Wessex Men who won 74-66.

Section Six champions Poole Park took their foot off the pedal when going down 8-6 at Moordown. The home crowd were ecstatic after Vic Cutland (23-17) collected four shots on the last end to give Moordown a 71-70 victory.

Ferndown held on to second spot by picking up 11 points in their 87-74 win at Pelhams.

Bournemouth remained two points behind after easily accounting for bottom-club Richmond Park. It is certain that Bournemouth’s mobiles will be busy next Saturday as Poole Park play their final match at Ferndown.

Elsewhere, Milford (14-0) and Swanmore (11-3) secured mid-table security with home victories over West Moors and Southbourne.

Ipsoregulated

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